As many of you know, we have shifted to our own space at dhwaniforum.com . Keeping the convenience of our members in mind and to make it easier for you to jump right into the forum activities, we have begun to send email to the email used at the time of your registration. Please use the enclosed password to login at the new site.

P:S Sometimes the email will be deposited in your spam/junk folder ..Please keep an eye in that folder too

These 2 episodes were the limit in so many ways that I have lost count. So I was reduced to looking for the small mercies, as I was deciding whether to finally give up on this abysmal script and rest in peace. But for now, here goes!

Episode 243:

Jodha-Mahaam: I was afraid, my dear Gayatri, and the rest, that I was right after all,and that the laurel wreath beckoned! But it seems that we are not there yet, even though I am sure that Jodha Begum is not going to let go of her endemic do-gooding so easily. It is only Round 1, after all, and she is good boxer and is not going to give up so soon!

It is no use clobbering Jalal for caving in and accepting her eventual proposal that he forgive Mahaam; he probably wants it himself, for all his tough talk last night. He is simply not tough enough inside with those whom he cares/cared for.

I was pleased with 2 things in this episode. One, Shehnaaz being revealed as a full fledged villain; she and Mahaam (who now will, hopefully, get a fresh lease of life) will make a remarkably well matched pair - one sounding and looking sane but really teetering on the edge of insanity, and the other vice versa!

I was pleased not only at the prospect of something more than these diabetes inducing hugs between our lead pair, but also because with this, Jodha will score a hat trick in picking dangerous lemons as the beneficiaries of her karuna. First Sharifuddin, next Shehnaaz, and pretty soon Mahaam.

Jodha-Jalal: But I agree with all of you that as and when Shehnaaz's asliyat is revealed, Jodha will neatly wriggle out of any blame for that as well. n fact, I do not think Jodha will feel the least bit guilty at all at having introduced such a menace to Jalal into the palace. She is self-blame-proof.

Need you ask how she will get off scotfree after seeing Salima's incredible excuse Kucch hua to nahin na? to bring Jalal round? Of course it never occurred to him to retort Agar Rahim ki maut ho jaati to bhi aap yahi kehtin? That is asking for too much!

The simple fact that all of us have to accept, and the sooner the better, is that this Jalal is as much enslaved by his Jodha Begum as Keats' pale, distraught, wandering knight was to the La Belle Dame sans merci. He can bark for a few seconds, but as soon as the prospect of Jodha Begum feeling hurt - and this no matter that she is in an untenable position and advocating a ridiculous approach to a mentally unstable person - is brought to his notice (by the cheerleader No.2, Salima) he caves in wholly, and trots off to pacify his sabse azeez begum.

It is hopeless, folks, to expect this Jalal to even approach the truly royal behaviour of Maharana Udai Singh. Now that is a real monarch!

However, despite all this exasperation, the other thing that pleased me was that (a) Jalal went to talk to Jodha partly because of Salima's linking Shehnaaz with Jodha's depressed state of mind in Mathura and (b) because he did not want to spoil his 1st wedding anniversary with Jodha (wonder how many anniversaries he has celebrated with Ruqaiya! ).

Plus he did not beg Jodha, with folded hands as per his recent modus operandi, to forgive him. He drew her to face him with a new found, easy possessiveness, and sat down and talked to her rationally, even if he did say he was sorry for having lost his temper with her. And Jodha's mostly fake roothna had that tadka of possessiveness, and so was not so bad after all. Small mercies!

Yes and as for the last scene and that oh so deliberate closing embrace. Can one really be unaware of the presence of a living, breathing human being less than a foot behind one? I think not, and they should have kept Jalal 2 feet away from Jodha; he could have heard her prayers just as well from there!

Shehnaaz track is bonkers: All this said and done, the whole Shehnaaz angle seems plain nuts. The creature is digging around in random chests in random rooms to find what? And she riffles thru the draft Humayunnama ( if Gulbadan Begum leaves her magnum opus lying around like this, it deserves to be damaged), saying that she might find something there that might take her further towards her goal. It sounds cuckoo.

I cannot imagine who she is supposed to be and what she is aiming to do to dethrone Jalal. But I LOVED her bewakoof Jodha!

The only thing I am waiting for is to see Jodha's face when the truth about her is revealed.

What do you bet that Jalal will then come rushing in to console his sabse azeez begum and reassure her that she was NOWHERE at fault for introducing this killer into the palace and then shielding her with such misplaced tenacity? Don't bet anything, for you are sure to lose!

Episode 244: It was hilarious.

First there was Ruqaiya's unbelievably dumb chaal - she does not even have the sense to accept what Hoshiyaar tells her about the dead cert consequences if she had, as she was bound to, been found out. Did I not write a few pages back that I could not believe that this woman had ever had the smarts to advice Jalal on political issues, seeing that she seemed to have been dropped on her head as a baby. Now I am sure she must have been dropped from a substantial height.

Mahaam-Jalal-Adham: Then there was the most edifying spectacle of Mahaam successfully trying commando tactics on her hulk of a son. What followed, re: her current attitude towards Jalal, at least the version of it that she wants Adham to believe, was considerably at odds with the plaintive tone of her imaginary pleas to Jalal a little earlier. I am not quite sure which to believe.

As for Jalal's uncompromisingly harsh response to her good wishes and her gift, I think his total disillusionment with her was because Mahaam muffed her lines in her unplanned outburst to him. and said far too much about what he owed her (and, to make it sound credible, to Bairam Khan too). That, and her assertion that he had done nothing for her that could compare with what she had done for him put the lid on it, as it made her look mercenary inside out and completely devalued all her sacrifices for him and her incessant care for him. She should instead have turned on the tap and wept copiously about how she was jealous of Jodha for having taken her Jalal beta away from her. Then Jalal would have slotted her reaction as a saas's hostility towards her bahu and might even have forgiven her.

The two crowns: I could not decide which was more comic, the idea of celebrating Jalal-Jodha's 1st wedding anniversary, and this for a Shahenshah with umpteen begums, all presumably wedded to him (but in a place where servants birthdays are celebrated, who are we to complain about wedding anniversaries? ), or Hamida Banu's nazrana of the two odd-looking jewelled pieces of headgear.And these dazzling and intricately bejewelled crowns were made in the one day after Hamida woke up to the anniversary? I suppose she has goblin goldsmiths in the Agra palace.

Now all that remains is for us to face the spectacle of Jalal and Jodha wearing these contraptions and sitting side by side on a throne. If she has the peaked one, she will end up looking taller than he. Already, this height handicap, which I had flagged earlier, was in evidence when Jodha had to bend over carefully to be able to place her head, in a suitably romantic position on Jalal's chest!

Yes, and as for the jhooti tareef comment of Jalal's, I think he means that Ruqaiya is addicted to fulsome praise, regardless of whether it is sincere or not. And no, my dears, those poor baandis should not be accused of fangirling. What on earth could they have said except that he looked splendid in any outfit? Imagine one of them telling the Shahenshah that something does not suit him!

The precap: The funniest of the lot, with Jalal and Jodha poking around in that dismal gufa like the Famous Five or Secret Seven, or any of the other juvenile detective groups beloved of Enid Blyton ( I hope at least some of you reemember Enid Blyton! ). It remains to be seen if they actually unearth Mahaam's deep dark secret. I would not wager anything on their doing so!What took the cake was Jodha describing the karahna of Mahaam's secret prisoner as a swar!!

Aunty, after reading your post, it seems, you are very much enjoying "Comedy nights of Jodha Akbar" , as that is what it has become...I wonder if the CVs of this Jodha Akbar are finding their competitor in Akbar-Birbal, another comedy show, which comes exactly one hour after this on different channel...I hope not.There's nothing left in the show right now to loose our heads over it...right now it's devoid of any rationality..even romance..oh!! epic romance It only has some lolly pop scenes of JoJa, which aren't any sweet

Aunty, I'm in office and supposed to be working. But this post of yours just drew me in. I had to sneak into one of the meeting rooms to write this short reply.

All your points are so bang on. Except one thing. I don't think jodha would have to wriggle out of anything. I'd read somewhere that shenu track is not a cameo but a long running one. Hence by the time her truth comes out everybody would have forgotten that jodha got in agra. Hence no body will blame her.

I loved jodha's crown. If she wears that one she'll look fit to dance in a thai or bali dance. I'd pay big money to see that one. :D

aunty dearest I just loved sorry love Enid Blyton. In fact she and c s Lewis were one of my favourites.

Shyamala, what can I say about your post. As usualy lovely, Kaash, I can say the samething about the episodes. I don't know, should I laugh or cry at these episodes now. I want to whack all 3 begums of Jalal, probably he will get some brain back. Why on earth, Salima mentions that Shehnaz has grown,but her brian did not? If I my memory serves right, shenu baby was not mad from childhood as per the ashram theory, she became mad with some loss of her dear one, so why talk about mental growth being stagnant? Maybe I will have some memory loss with this show.And why is there no guards at anyone's hojra now? Anyone can walk in and look for any paigam is it?? Shenu walks in MA's hojra, ok here can say that Javeda had got her, but how about GB's hojra? No one stopped her? Looks like, Jalal is having labour shortage from the time, he abolished slavery.Ruq's- she is in pits now. I wonder, why did I even support her once. Precap- Jodha and Jalal's James Bond act. It was very funny, especially Jalal with his crown spying in Jungle. Hope we get some other back story to it.

Its been raining in KL. Water shortage is over.Flash flood is in. And its SO COLD..........I feel I need to burn something in Karjat to warm me up here!!

Aiyoo...............

What's with Rukaiya's plan? Did she expect him to sniff and fall delicately like a teenage girl, waiting to fall into her arms so she can carry him off to bed Regency Novel style? Really? What are they putting in the roti/chaval in Agra nowadays?

There is no way the jashn going to go on with Jalal suddenly becoming faint little flower, or Jodha going there alone. Its such a lame excuse of a plan for a person who grew up with the Shehensha and had all the exposure similar to him in areas of ruling a kingdom, planning or scheming.

The virus for stupidity is spreading fast in Agra, for that is the only explanation fof Salima's 'But nothing happened right?' Does someone have to die/about to die before Agra-wasis take anything serious??

As for Jodha-Jalal hug, I don't feel the ease with which he holds, hugs or kisses Rukaiya in these two. There is something that seems very planned/rehearsed in the way they hug. I am really not feeling 'it'. Its not a hug where both are melting into each other. That is what I call a hug...............two bodies melting in an affectionate embrace. It does not need to be lustful at all or sterile either!!

The business with Shehnaz......

I am curious about something. In Mathura I thought it was portrayed that she had stayed there for a good bit before Jodha came bouncing along. So if she has bee planning to take over the throne; is she a descendent of Shaguni Bhai to have known that Jo-Ja will have a fallout and Jodha will come adventuring to Mathura? I mean how could she have know where to wait to meet Jodha, when Jodha herself was supposed not to have known where she will end up?

And why did she not recognize Jalal, if its his throne she is after?

And for a person who has so limited senses that she can NEVER realise how close Jalal is standing behind her, Jodha has a hearing sense like a bat!!

Beautiful take aunty....had so much fun reading it... Much as we take Jalal to task, I should give it to Jalal for being able to maintain some form of sensibility (like his decision on Shehnaaz/Rahim/MA etc) despite being surrounded by the likes of Jodha, Salima, Ruqaiyya, Hameeda, Javedha, Mothi, Shehnaaz and all the other women-folk in Agra

As you said, Jodha scored in Round 1 but I somehow feel that the Round 2 would be long time in coming... I think the issue with Rukkaya is gonna be upfront now with Jalal and Jodha... Jodha first have to defend and get a free card for Rukkaya than she can continue the project Maham-Jalal Milao...

Regarding Jalal, I am happy that he is not nodding his head to everything Jodha says and atleast trying tobe sakth... it's entirely another issue that he is prone to coercion .

I think the scotfree card applies to everyone in the Agra place... Did anyone bother about how Benazir got so close to Jalal? did they question Maham/Ruk abt it?? No.. with sujamal also poor Maham got caught (courtesy of real dilawar khan) and so questioned.. otherwise nobody was bothered to even investigate it... in these incidents all are busy dealing with aftermath and no one even thinks abt the root of the problem.. so how can it be different with Jodha-shehnaaz ?? Jodha/Jalal will be saved at the last moment and with that all the whys/hows/whens will be clean sweeped....

Jodha and Jalal are trying to behave like normal couple when alone... but we are so used to these two doing non-couple things for so long that all their shared scenes seem out of place... give me a seriously tana maroing scene anyday and I will be happy.... getting used to this sweet pathi-patni scenes may take some time for me... I have one thing to say to Shehnaaz... girl make plans that are realistic and don't leave them to probability... seriously each step she took rite from joining the Ashram were so low in success rate that only bad luck on Jodha-Jalal part is helping Shehnaaz.... searching in that paagalkhana for clues how to dethrone/kill Jalal will surely make her paagal...

Rukkaya is totally lost... I can't even see a single trace of old her in this new one... She reminds me of this quote I read about obsession and selfish-love...

“I love you so much that nothing can matter to me - not even you...Only my love- not your answer. Not even your indifference” - Ayn Rand

With her, it's not even about love... it's about haq - Jalal per sirf hamara haq hai...She will soon reach the point where it doesn't matter if Jalal is not with her as long as he is not with Jodha or anyone else...

Goblin made Headgear aunty??? Hope Goblin's won't start a war for this and become an enemy of Jalal... As it is, there are too many anti-'s in his life...I really wonder how he lived so long.. I think they showed Jodha-Jalal wearing the crowns in the precap... Jodha sure looked funny.. :lollol:waiting for tomorrows comedy night with JA...

Yes, that bewakoof Jodha from Shehnaaz was a pleasure to hear but her presence quite annoys me. Barging into rooms and dropping food on the emperor is no way to act but then again, that is the reaction she is supposed to elicit.

Episode 244 was hilarious Aunty; I was chuckling throughout it! I could not understand how Jalal did not fall in love with Smiley's Ruqaiya - she was incredible. But now, with this Ruqaiya, it's easy to see why.

That is the big question. Which Maham should we believe? The one who wants Jalal to forgive her because she still loves him or the one who says he is nothing to her now and Adham is everything? I am quite torn here also but I do think she will always love Jalal at least in her own way.

Nice post Aunty!! Ur posts r better than epi it self. Well this show has completely turned into comic one. Our shenshah has became vella. Seriously speaking this jalal irritates me with over exposure of his emotions in public(as per thursday epi) few things that I liked abt jalal from Tue n wed epi was that he didnt beg for forgiveness infront of jodha mata ,rather he was standing firm on his pov regarding shehnaaz.Now about jodha, she will definetly get a clean chit after shehnaaz's exposure. U know its typical kekta's show, where women r held above goddess. Now those crowns [=))][=))] those crowns will make them look like clown n nothing more. They should have made jodha look mughal attire(as per thursday precap). Jalal is still looking fine but seriously laughed at loud seeing jodha with that crown above her pallu. Dont know y HB never treated rukkaiya like that.N Rukkaiya, the lesser I say abt her ,the better. She has lost her senses for sure.

Aunty, thankyou so much for the post.. U very well know, hw useless these episodes are, but ur making dis posts for us..Love you aunty.. ..By end of dis week i decided one thing, i'l come here only to read ur post..there is nothing left in dis show..i'm goin to totally disconnect me from this show..I'm out from dis torture..Aunty ,we got another DT note in our IF thread..our thread is on ventilator..Anyway , our show itself is in dat condition, what's about thread??..whenever u make a post, i'l read written update, den goin to comment here..